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May 1st, 1918
Back to the Drawing Board
Canadians get a
break
After having held the
front line position in the
Lens region during
March and April, the
Canadian Corps is now
sent to Reserve, where
it can re-group and
replenish.
This will be the long period of re-training that will prepare the Corps for its 1918 campaign.
Currie has learned very much from the experiences of the spring of 1918, including
experiences of other formations, and that of the enemy on the offensive. He is now confident that
the type of warfare will change and that the allies will shortly go on the offensive. He wants to
improve on mobility.
The key to his reasoning is to use big divisions, but to concentrate on small unit tactics so
that the infantry can be immediately assisted by specialist arms in its tasks. Platoon and company
tactics will be modified to allow inter-arms cooperation, integrated firepower, and movement,
movement, movement.
The role of artillery is again re-emphasized so as to be used more efficiently to precede the
infantry. He insists that «Artillery conquers, infantry occupies.» The structure of the Field
Engineers, Motor Machine Guns and Signalers is re-organized so that infantrymen can
concentrate on combat skills.
The period of 1 May to 1 July 1918 will see a transformation in the Canadian Corps that will
make it an outstanding fighting formation, ready for the swift offensive operations in the fall.
---------------------------
!Nicholson, Le Corps expéditionnaire canadien, p. 415-7.
May 2nd, 1918
Decisions Big Time
Second of May in Abbeville – A Summit in the
field
On 1 and 2 May 1918, the high representatives of governments
meet at Abbeville, in France, to discuss major outstanding
issues. French President Clemenceau is there with Prime
Minister Lloyd George, and Prime Minister Orlando of Italy.
For the fourth time, the status of General Foch is raised
once again. It is now decided that he will become the overall
commander of the whole of the Western Front, including the
Italian Front. His powers will be limited in Italy to coordinating
inter-allied action, but all allied operations there will fall under
his strategic direction.
It is also decided then and there that the allied military
planning staff kept in Versailles will be dismissed and that Foch
will fill this void from his Headquarters in the field.
General Pershing, representing the United States, is
brought to the idea that more infantry and machine gunners will
be shipped in the summer to the detriment of other arms, and
will be brought to the field more rapidly for training and
integration to fighting divisions.
These are very important decisions that spell an
invigorating rationalisation of resources management.
---------------------
!Lloyd George, Memoirs, Vol. V, 2968-71; Vol. VI: 3060ff, 3178.
May 3rd, 1918
Undeclared War Against the Reds
The Allies’ interests in
Russia
Since the beginning of the
war, the Allies have been
sending supplies to Russia to
help the Russian Army fight the
Central Germanic powers.
An accumulation of
materiel built up in the ports of
Murmansk and Archangel,
where railroads were insufficient
to move this supply as it arrived.
Large stockpiles of millions of
tons remained when the
Bolcheviks called for an
Armistice.
The Allies are worried that the Germans, established in Finland, can seize this materiel and
use it to their own end. They are in fact worried that the Bolcheviks themselves can now use it
against the pro-Allies factions which remain in Russia.
In December 1917, the Supreme Allied Council, in Paris, decided that action would be taken
to secure these depots so as to ensure that they do not fall in enemy hands, or even non-friendly
hands.
With the spring coming in the White Sea, Allied naval forces are sent to those ports to
support friendly factions in the defence of such precious materiel.
With the help of the Japanese, inroads are also made by the Allies through Vladivostok, with
the aim of progressing through Siberia so as to help such remaining non-Bolsheviks as Tartars and
Mongols and Cossacks, remain opposed to both the Germanic coalition and the Red Moscow
government.
--------------------------
!Lloyd George, VI, 3166-7.
May 4, 1918
Minister Kemp in London
The Overseas Militia Council
Last month, on 11 April, an Order in Council creating the
Overseas Militia Council was signed by Prime Minister
Borden. The Council parallels the civilian-led Militia Council
in Ottawa and will exercise administrative control over the
Canadian Expeditionary Force.
Its administrative authority applies to the Canadian
Corps in France, but also to the tens of thousands of
Canadian servicemen undergoing training in England or
posted in France outside the Canadian Corps (such as the
numerous railroad and lumber troops).
Many elements of this Council begin to take effect in
the month of May 1918, under the leadership of a full
minister of the Crown, the Minister of the Overseas Military
Forces of Canada (OMFC), Albert Kemp.
Minister Kemp has been in England since January
working on this new Council. Lieutenant-General Sir
Richard Turner VC, has been appointed Chief of Staff of the
OMFC.
---------------------
!Report of the Ministry: Overseas Military Forces of Canada 1918. (London:
1918)
!John A. Turley-Ewart and Robert Craig Brown, “Kemp, Sir Albert Edward,”
in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 15,
http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/kemp_albert_edward_15E.html.
!Morton, A Peculiar Kind of Politics, p. 158-9.
Le 5 mai, 1918
Du Sang partout!
Pertes du printemps
En janvier 1918, tous les
soldats des deux côtés
savaient que dès que
reviendrait le printemps, les
assauts reprendraient.
On prévoyait partout
que les pertes, encore une
fois, seraient effroyables
des deux cotés.
Mais peu
appréhendaient que dès le
début de mai, deux
offensives grandioses des
Allemands allaient empiler
les cadavres et remplir les
hôpitaux, comme il s’était
passé pour la Somme ou
pour Verdun, ou
Passchendaele.
Les Britanniques ont déjà subi, pour l’offensive du Lys (9 au 29 avril) 76,000 pertes; les
Français 53,000.
Entre le 21 mars et le 30 avril, les Allemands on subi 350,000 pertes dans leurs assauts.
Pour toute cette période, les Français ont perdu 92,000 hommes et les Britanniques
240,000.
Le total allié est donc de 332,000 contre celui des allemands, 350,000; un grand total de
682,000 hommes tués, blessés, fait prisonniers ou disparus, pour 41 jours de combat:
— 17,000 hommes par jour pour six semaines de printemps.
----------------------------
!BGen Sir James Edmonds, A Short History of World War I (Geoffrey Cumberlege, Osford University Press, 1915), p. 315-
6.
Le 6 mai, 1918
Mouvement, Mouvement, Mouvement
Réorganisation du
génie de combat
Dès que le Corps canadien est
mis en réserve d’armée, la
première semaine de mai
1918, le général Currie
procède avec célérité à une
réforme importante pour
assurer une plus grande
capacité de mobilité pour le
Corps canadien.
Puisqu’il anticipe que la
guerre des tranchées est sur
le point de se terminer et que
beaucoup plus de mouvement
de grandes formations va
s’avérer nécessaire, il donne aux trois brigades de chacune des quatre divisions canadiennes (12)
une brigade de génie de campagne, dont la spécialité est justement d’assurer la mobilité sur le
terrain en créant des routes improvisées au besoin, des ponts de bateaux pour traverser canaux et
rivières, et des abris de combat.
Cette brigade d’ingénieurs de combat compte un groupe de commandement et trois unités
de mille sapeurs, ainsi qu’ un élément d’installation et de transport de ponts de bateaux.
– Ceci a l’avantage précieux de libérer les fantassins, trop souvent accaparés par des
travaux de pionniers qui les écartent de leur rôle offensif.
------------------------
!Nicholson, Le Corps expéditionnaire canadien, p. 415-7.
May 7, 1918
General Maurice in the Press
The Maurice Affair
Sir Major General Frederick Maurice was Director of Military
Operations (DMO) at the War Office in early 1918. Having sent a
report to the Cabinet on troop numbers in France, he was shocked
that these numbers were misrepresented by Minister Bonar Law in
the House of Commons, reassuring MPs that troops in France had
been increased over last year, which Maurice knew to be untrue.
Maurice resigned his position and, still in uniform, went to the
Press to reveal that such a misrepresentation had been made by the
Government.
The gravest political crisis of the war ensued, threatening the
Lloyd George Government. Lloyd George himself went to Parliament
to defend Bonar Law’s statement.
The prime minister defended the statement so brilliantly that a
vote of confidence gave him a victory of 203 to 106 in the House of
Commons. His success was called a ‘slight of hand» by historian A.J.P. Taylor.
General Maurice was cashiered and the issue never resurfaced. But the British Liberal
party was broken forever. Former Liberal PM Asquith, who had raised a resolution against the
coalition government, found himself isolated with 100 followers, and Lloyd George, also a Liberal,
found himself carried by Conservatives and Irish Unionists.
They did not want any other prime minister than Lloyd George himself, whatever his failings.
--------------------------
!A.J.P. Taylor, English History, p. 105; !Beaverbrook, Men and Power, Chap VIII ‘The Lost Box’, p. 64ff; !Hew Strachan,
The Politics of the British Army, Ch. 6; !Lloyd George, Memoirs, Chapter 80 - « The Maurice Affair», p. 2972-95; Maurice,
Lessons of Allied Co-operation (1942).
May 8, 1918
Another Jewel in the German Crown
The Treaty of Bucharest
The status of Rumania had remained
uncertain since the Armistice of 9 December 1917
with the Central Powers, after the Russian troops
had withdrawn from the east of the country, and no
hope remained of a Rumanian resurgence by force
of arms.
Rumania was occupied by German and
Austrian-Hungarian troops in wait of a definite
status within the context of the German plan for
Mitteleuropa after the war.
On 7 May 1918, the Foreign Minister of
Germany, Richard von Kühlmann, imposed the
Treaty of Bucharest, (signed at Buftea, near
Bucharest) on the new Rumanian Prime Minister
Alexandry Marghiloman, after protracted
‘negotiations for peace’ in the previous months.
The important clauses of the Treaty were, however, contained in five secret annexes
pertaining to oil, economics, shipping, finance and law, which gave control of Rumanian assets to
Germany.
— King Ferdinand I of Rumania refused to sign this Treaty, which was nullified in Versailles
in 1919.
------------------------
!Fischer, Germany’s Aims in The First World War, p. 515-23; !Wikipedia, «Treaty of Bucharest (1918)».
May 9, 1918
Without Any Flying Circus
René Fonck, French Ace of Aces
René Fonck began his military service in the combat
engineers of the French army. After flight training in
1915, he flew observation aircraft, establishing
himself as an excellent combat pilot.
In 1917, he was invited to join the Escadrille
des Cigognes, the world's first fighter wing with four
squadrons.
On May 9, 1918, Fonck made a friendly wager
with two American pilots in the wing, as to who would
shoot down the most aircraft that day.
In two missions, Fonck shot down six two-
seater German observation aircraft.
He ended the war with the highest confirmed
record of victories (75) among allied pilots.
Fonck avoided dogfights, preferring to stalk
his victims in his SPAD fighters, engaging at close
range.
He was an ascetic and withdrawn man and
never developed a public following like other aces.
---------------------------------
Further information: Jon Guttman, Spad XII / XIII: Aces of World
War 1
May 10, 1918
Infantry Tactics 401
General Igor Maxse and Lessons Learned
Lieutenant General Igor Maxse has been a keen observer of
French infantry tactics since 1916. The relative success of his 18
Division in the battle of the Somme was due to his initiative in
this regard.
He subsequently became the Commander of XVIII Corps,
and in recognition of his talent, was given charge of training the
large numbers of infantry that arrived in the late spring and
summer of 1918. He will become Inspector General of Training
in June.
Maxse was a level-headed field officer who took notice of
practices that were successful for the French and the Germans.
Both those armies had compulsory service before the war and a
tradition of land warfare much more steeped in study than the
British Army. Great Britain’s military tradition was more naval.
« Maxse introduced practices that, though old hat to
the Germans and even the French, were revolutionary
for the British Army. These included platoons à la
Française, with two Lewis gun squads and two rifle
squads (and thus the capability of independent
maneuver) and the use of individual field guns for
1
direct cooperation with the infantry.»
— This is exactly what General Currie has in mind to do since the end of the Somme.
---------------------------
1
!John A. English, and Bruce I. Gudmundsson, On Infantry, (1994), p. 45. ! http://www.firstworldwar.com/bio/maxse.htmMay 11, 1918
The Belching Juggernaut
The Corps of Canadian
Railway Troops
Since 1915, nearly 13,000
Canadians, many of them
experienced railwaymen from
Canada's growing rail network,
operate a large system of light
(narrow gauge) railways
bringing shells and supplies
from the standard gauge French
rail system to the front.
There, another network of
tramways reaching further
forward supplies the fighting
units. On return trips, these
trains carriy wounded soldiers.
In the German spring offensive, the thirteen battalions of Canadian railwaymen were
transferred to building emergency rear area trench systems. At one point, some organised Lewis
gun teams defended their plant until relieved by New Zealand infantry.
As the allies began to look to the offensive, in late April and early May, the Canadians were
re-organized into the Corps of Canadian Railway Troops, incorporating separate units
specialising in railway construction, freight car building, and providing engine crews.
—Trains and tramways proved a juggernaut in lifting and pushing supplies to the business
end of allied armies.
------------------------------------------
Further information: Canadian Rail, No. 457, November 1993, accessed at www.exporail.org ; !Photo: National Archives of
Canada, Photo PA-2126 - Canadian Light Railway Locomotive A light Railway goods yard at Dixie Siding, behind Vimy
Ridge, in October 1917. Steam locomotives were not usually used close to the front lines because their smoke would give
away their position.Le 12 mai, 1918
Entre Amis au Spa
Conférence de Spa:
Tensions entre
l’Allemagne et
l’Autriche-Hongrie
La conférence de Spa est
une rencontre, à la
demande de l'Empereur
allemand Guillaume II,
des principaux
responsables politiques
du Reich et de la Double
monarchie austro-
hongroise.
Elle est organisée
dans le contexte de
l'éclatement d'un scandale
austro-allemand, lié à la
publication par les
Français des échanges
entre des négociateurs français et austro-hongrois au cours de rencontres informelles en Suisse,
au printemps 1917.
Utilisant habilement les conséquences de la divulgation récente de ces échanges, le
Deuxième Reich parvient à mettre sous sa tutelle la Double monarchie, au terme d'une conférence
au cours de laquelle l'empereur Guillaume II ne se prive pas de multiplier les humiliations à
l'encontre de l'empereur Charles, notamment dans l’Entente sur la partition polonaise.
— À partir de ce moment, les Alliés soutiennent activement les comités nationaux que
certains représentants en exil des minorités de la Double monarchie ont formés, au cours des
mois précédents.
----------------------
!Fischer, Germany’s Aims, 528. !Sources : http://www.sparealites.be/la-conference-diplomatique-de-spa
!Pour en savoir plus : http://www.sparealites.be/la-conference-diplomatique-de-spaMay 13, 1918
Pouring in in Droves
On 1 May 1918, the American
Expeditionary Force was at
23,548 officers and 406,111
Other Ranks.
By the end of the month,
650,000 men will be divided
into some 18 United States
divisions.
«By agreement between General Pershing and Lord Milner, the new American
divisions were bringing over only their infantry, machine-gunners, enginers and
signal units. Artillery and transport would be provided by the British and French.
Accordingly, the renforcements grew from 64,200 in March and 93,128 in April to
206,287 in May, of whom 176,602 were combattants, 140,024 being infantry. It was
thus a collection of some complete, some completing and some deliberately
incomplete divisions that Pershing commanded, and his determination not to allow
them to be committed to battle in this condition was absolute. His instructions, after
1
all, were perfectly clear.»
--------------------------
1
!Terraine, To Win a War, 68. !Photo: American flag in 1917, with 48 states, from Kansapedia.
https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/victory-banner/10348Le 14 mai, 1918
Une AnabaseTchécoslovaque
Les Tchécoslovaques en Russie
Avec la signature du Traité de Paix de Brest-
Litovsk, le 3 mars 1918, les Russes se sont
retirés de l’Entente. La brigade russe qui avait
été envoyée en France, pour marquer l’alliance,
et les troupes russes qui avaient joint la force
expéditionnaire multinationale de Salonique, ont
donc cessé de combattre pour retourner chez
elles.
En Russie, plusieurs contingents
nationaux avaient joint l’Armée russe pour
combattre les Allemands, les Autrichiens-
Hongrois, ou les Ottomans, ainsi que leurs alliés
(notamment les Bulgares).
Ce fut le cas des Tchécoslovaques, au nombre d’environ 30,000, qui désiraient continuer
les combats pour des buts nationaux, principalement contre les Autrichiens-Hongrois.
Les Bolshéviques ont d’abord donné leur accord pour que les Tchécoslovaques soient
retournés en Europe, mais lorsque ceux-ci se sont mis à aider les Russes opposés aux
Communisme, leur statut a changé.
Le 14 mai 1918, le régime bolchévique s’est engagé à traquer et saisir les Tchèques sur le
continent euro-asiatique, de sorte à ne pas être accusés de complicité par les envahiseurs de
l’Alliance allemande.
Le sort des Tchèques, à partir de ce moment, a été comparé à la classique Anabase de
Xénophon de la Grèce antique, puisqu’ils s’est agi d’une course surhumaine pour sortir du
continent euro-asiatique par Vladivostok, à l’extrême Orient.
---------------------------------
!Histoire Universelle, Encyclopédie Pléiade (Gallimard, 1958), Vol. III, «Les Slaves Occidentaux», p. 913-7.May 15, 1918
A Spider’s Web of Steel
The nightmare of barbed wire
Invented in the 1860s in France and
developed further in the United States in
the 1870s and used by cattlemen in the
American West to confine cattle in
designated areas, barbed wire became a
gruesome weapon of war first used
widely during the Spanish-American War
and in South Africa during the Boer War.
It is now used as a deadly obstacle
by both the Allied and German forces,
laid in front of the trenches that stretch
nearly 2,100 kilometres along the
Western Front. In May 1918, the output
of British industry is of 1,200 tons per
week, and orders are made in the United
1
States .
Meant to trap, maim, and channel assaulting troops toward killing zones, it is said that the
two things that our soldiers feared most were shrapnel and barbed wire.
Millions of kilometres of barbed wire are laid by both sides by wiring parties working every
night, one of the most dangerous and nerve-racking assignments soldiers must endure. The
slightest noise as posts are inserted into the ground can alert the enemy who do not hesitate to
use flares and open fire.
The use of barbed wire is without a doubt one of the most potent symbols of inhuman
behaviour by supposedly civilized people.
---------------------------
1
Lloyd George, Memoirs, VI: 3075; For further information:
!https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/barbed_wire;
!https ://militaryhistorynow.com/2014/01/08barbed-wire-war ; !http://www.firstworldwar.com/photos/trenches.htmLe 16 mai, 1918
Domination Industrielle de l’Est
Rencontre des grands industriels allemands à
Dusseldorff
À la suite du traité de paix de Brest-Litovsk, le 3 mars
1918, et des traités subséquent rattachés aux arrangements de
paix entre les Pouvoirs centraux et les pays limitrophes de la
Russie, un concertium d’industriels allemands se réunit à
Dusseldorff, le 16 mai 1918, pour émettre des
recommendations au gouvernement de l’Allemagne sur
l’exploitation industrielle des conquêtes de l’est.
Des représentants des grandes firmes d’industrie lourde
s’inquiètent que les dispositions prises par le ministère des
Affaires extérieures et par le Haut Commandement militaire ne
favorisent pas adéquatement l’expansion industrielle et la
création de marchés dans les pays où les Puissances
Centrales on gagné accès par la force des armes et par la
pression diplomatique.
Ce que les industriels exigent du gouvernement est un
appui financier considérable pour l’établissement
d’infrastructures propices à l’exploitation, et une protection de marché de sorte à favoriser l’activité
allemande contre la compétition d’après-guerre.
Richard Bruhn, représentant de la firme Krupp, créera, à la suite de cette première
rencontre, le syndicat pour la pénétration économique de la Russie et de l’Ukraine.
------------------------
Fischer, Germany’s Aims in the First World War, p. 563-6.May 17, 1918
Flinging the Door Open in Manchuria
Japan Intervenes in Vladivostok
The collapse of Imperial Russia threatened
Vladivostok, Russia's strategic eastern port,
with revolution. France asked Japan to
intervene in February 1917 but the government
declined.
However the Japanese Army General
Staff established a Siberian Planning
Committee which developed a plan to seize
most of Russia as far as Lake Baikal, in
Siberia, to create a subordinate buffer state.
In the spring of 1918, two Japanese
battleships, and a British and American
cruisers were stationed in Vladivostok to
restore public order and bolster local anti-
Bolshevik forces.
This proved impossible: a Bolshevik mob
looted a Japanese-owned business, killing the
owner. Prime Minister Count Terauchi Masatake ordered marines ashore to protect Japanese
property but they soon occupied the entire city.
Tensions over intervention in Russian Siberia proved to be the opening chapter in the fatal
conflict between the civilian government and the military in postwar Japan, which led to the
invasion of Chinese Manchuria, in the early 1930s.
--------------------------
Further information: Peter Duus (ed.), The Cambridge History of Japan: The Twentieth CenturyMay 18, 1918
Air Cover for London
The Air Defence of London
German bombing raids against Britain
peaked in 1917 with 341 aircraft and 30
Zeppelins raiding London, killing 650 people.
Initial defence efforts under the
Admiralty proved ineffectual; a new system
was established under the Army and then
transferred to the Royal Air Force upon its
formation.
Concentric rings of ground observers
and searchlights now communicate with 26
sub-stations from which data is relayed
rapidly by phone to a central plotting table in
London. This central agency in turn alerts a
ring of anti-aircraft guns and the fighters of
nine squadrons which defend the city itself.
By May 1918, over 60 bombers have been
brought down.
The last and largest raid on London takes place on the night of 19-20 May 1918, when the
defences shoots down six of the 38 Gothas and 3 Staakens. This makes a real difference.
Britain's air defence in 1940 was based upon the 1918 system.
--------------------------
Further information: Royal Observer Corps accessed at www.roc.heritage.co.ukLe 19 mai, 1918
C’est la Guerre!
The Canadian General
Hospitals in Étaples
bombarded
On 19 May 1918, German
aircraft bombard the No. 1 and No. 7
Canadian General Hospitals in
Étaples, France.
The wing of patients under tent
that gets hit is the ‘Femurs’; those
patients with broken femurs, all
brought together for specialist
treatments, such as tractions and
reconstruction surgery. These
patients are mostly being prepared for
further evacuation out of theatre.
Sixty-six Canadians are killed and 73
wounded.
During the attack, three Canadian army nurses are killed. Many nurses remain with
immobile patients throughout the raid. Nursing sisters Helene Hanson and Beatrice McNair are
subsequently awarded Military Medals for their outstanding devotion to duty, making them the first
Canadian women to be decorated for gallantry, as opposed to service.
— The work of Canada’s army nurses was widely celebrated at home, and nursing as a
whole enjoyed a new professional status in the post-war period.
---------------------------
Morton. When Your Number’s Up, p. 194. !National Film Board, Film with original footage: Hospital Bombed by German
Airplanes (Topical Film Company, 1918, 4min 38secs): http://www3.nfb.ca/ww1/prologue.php.
!https://cdnhistorybits.wordpress.com/2015/06/02.Le 20 mai, 1918
Reprendre le Poil de la Bête
Foch prend l’offensive
Le 20 mai 1918, après avoir bien pris conscience
de la faillite des opérations allemandes des
dernières semaines, le Général Ferdinand Foch,
devenu Commandant-en-Chef des forces alliées
du Front Ouest, décide de reprendre l’initiative.
Il ordonne à Pétain de diriger ses armées
vers l’espace entre l’Oise et la Somme, dans le but
de dégager le chemin de fer Paris-Amiens ainsi
que le centre de communications de Amiens.
Dans la région de la Lys, il ordonne au
détachement français du nord et aux armées
britanniques de forcer vers Béthune, au centre de
la région des mines de charbon les plus riches de
France.
Il déclare au général Wilson, le chef de
l’état-major impérial britannique, qu’avec des
réserves bien placées, il se sent en pleine
confiance de pouvoir repousser toute contre-
attaque que les Allemands pourraient lancer
pendant ces manoeuvres.
— Foch personifie la confiance, l’énergie
communicative, et la décision.
---------------------------
!Hunter, Foch, p. 169.May 21st, 1918
Washington Gavelling War Laws
The US Congress in War Mood
The month of May 1918 marks important
turning points in Washington. Congress passes
a series of drastic laws that make it clear that
the country is in a war mood.
The Sedition Act, an adjunct to the
Espionnage Act of 15 June 1917, is passed on
16 May.
It extends penalties for anyone found to
use language ‘disloyal or abusive’ against the
United States Constitution, government, the
flag, recruiting, war bonds, or even military
1
uniform.
On 20 May, the Overton Act becomes the law of the land. This is the most extraordinary
and potentially dangerous law ever passed by the United States Congress. The legislation
introduced by Senator Lee Overton, a conservative Democrat from North Carolina, gives the
president dictatorial powers for the duration of the war and for six months after. It permits Wilson
to disband, add to, or reorganize any executive or administrative agency without the approval of
Congress and it transformed the six existing war agencies – fuel, food, shipping, railroads, war
trade, and war industries – into a virtual war cabinet. «Fortunately for the nation, Wilson used his
2
great powers sparingly.»
The Overman Act also establishes the full status of the General Staff in the US Army in
3
Washington.
----------------------
1
S.E. Morison, The Oxford History of the American People (OUP, 1965), p. 874. 2!Farwell, US Army in the Great War, p.
134. 3!Brian Neuman, « A Question of Authority: Reassessing the March-Pershing ‘Feud’ in the First World War», The
Journal of Military History, 73 (October 2009), 1117-1142, fn 20.Le 22 mai, 1918
Renault en grève
La grève des métallos
Comme une traînée de poudre, en France, le
mouvement de grève s’est amplifié tout au long
du mois de mai 1918.
Tout commence le 13, lorsque les salariés
de chez Renault entament un mouvement de
grève dans les usines d’armement.
Le lendemain, ce sont 100,000 personnes
qui se joignent aux manifestants.
Plus tard, le 18, le mouvement gagne
Saint-Étienne, dans le bassin de la Loire, devenu
la principale région de fabrication du matériel de
guerre. De là, il gagne Bourges et Lyon.
Le mouvement ne dura que quinze jours.
Ces grèves sont restées largement ignorées en
raison de la censure qui frappait les informations
de nature à inquiéter l’opinion.
Plus organisées, elles ont essentiellement touché les métallos qui manifestaient « pour la
paix » et utilisaient un langage révolutionnaire avec de fréquentes allusions à la révolution
bolchevique.
Redoutables parce qu’elles risquaient de mettre en danger les fournitures d’armes aux
troupes, elles sont restées circonscrites à une seule catégorie d’ouvriers, les métallurgistes, ce qui
explique leur arrêt rapide.
------------------
Sources : http://blogs.lesechos.fr/echos-d-hier/13-mai-1918-debut-d-une-agitation-a10512.htmlMay 23rd, 1918
Old Fifth, New Fourth
Birdwood Takes
Fifth
General William
Birdwood was as
famous as British
commander of
Australians as General
Byng was famous as
British commander of
Canadians.
Australians and
New Zealanders loved
Birdwood for his
genuine concern and
affinity with their fate,
–well proven at Gallipoli. Birdwood asked for nothing else but to remain with the ANZACs.
But in order to promote Australian officers to generalship, Birdwood is given command of the
Fifth Army on 23 May 1918, taking a section of the line between Second Army (Plumer) and First
Army (Horne), from north of Lille to the north of Lens.
This marks the revival of Fifth Army after its mauling in the 21st of March German offensive.
The commander of Fifth Army, General Gough, was then withdrawn from army command by Haig.
On April 2nd, Fourth Army, in the north, was reduced to a corps, and its commander, General
Rawlinson, with his own army headquarter, took command of the remnants of Fifth in the south
with some new divisions, so as to rebuild a new Fourth Army in place, while Fifth Army
Headquarters was withdrawn and rebuilt.
— The old Fifth in the center-north, and the new Fourth in the south mark a new alignment
of the five British field armies for the rest of 1918.
--------------------------
!John Lee, «William Birdwood» in Beckett and Corvi (Eds), Haig’s Generals (Pen & Sword, 2006), p. 33-53, see full map p.
47.May 24, 1918
A Big Shark Doesn’t Get Caught
U-151: Blockade Runner Turned
Hunter
U-151 was one of seven large submarines
designed as commercial blockade runners to
evade the Royal Navy noose and trade with
the still neutral United States.
Britain formally complained to the USA
that the submarines violated the neutrality
protocols, since it was impossible to stop and
inspect them for contraband military goods.
The complaint was rejected. But only the
first two submarines of the class made trade
voyages before the USA joined the war in April
1917.
U-151 was then converted into a long-
range cruiser submarine.
In April 1918, it laid mines off the US
Atlantic coast and cut the undersea cable
between New York and Halifax. On 24-25 May 1918, it stopped and sunk three US schooners off
Virginia, taking the crews prisoner.
– When U-151 returned to Germany in July, it had sunk 23 ships of 61,000 tonnes and
captured several valuable cargoes.
It surrendered to France at the end of the War.
----------------------------
Further information: !Wikipedia, SM U-151; !Lieutenant Louis Guichard,, The Naval Blockade, Tr. and Ed. by Christopher
R. Turner (New York: Appleton and Coy, 1930), Chap 3.Le 25 mai, 1918
Une Ponction Égyptienne Douloureuse
Allenby perd des troupes précieuses
Le transfert de troupes allemandes et
autrichiennes-hongroises du front est vers le front ouest
de France et d’Italie a inspiré le Haut Commandement
militaire britannique à effectuer lui-même des transferts de
troupes d’autres fronts.
C’est ainsi que le général Edmund Allenby,
commandant de la Force expéditionnaire britannique en
Égypte, reçoit des instructions du War Office de faire
parvenir en France deux de ses divisions les plus
précieuses, la 52e Division (Lowland) et la 74e Division,
en plus de 23 bataillons d’infanterie d’autres divisions.
Il doit, à partir de ce moment, obtenir des troupes
de l’Armée indienne, moins bien entraînées, et les
préparer pour les opérations en Palestine. Ceci
compromet les plans qu’il avait élaborés pour la prise de
Amman, prévue dans quelques semaines.
Pour le major T.E. Lawrence, la nouvelle est déplorable. Dix semaines de préparations sont
ruinées. De plus, ajoute-t-il, «Il va falloir dire à Feisal que la victoire prochaine que nous lui
1
avions promise a été un mensonge.»
-------------------------------
!1J. Wilson, Lawrence of Arabia, p. 501, Trad.. !Lloyd George, Memoirs, Book VI, Chap 84, p. 3221.May 26, 1918
Whiting the Reds
The Murmansk Soviet
The port of Murmansk has received some one
million tons of supplies from the Allies before the
armistice between Russia and the Central Powers.
Much of this supply is still in the port, owing to the
difficulties of transport inland.
The allies are fearful that the Bolsheviks might
very well sell the supplies to the Germans. There are
large quantities of manganese that powerful German
industrialists wish to obtain as needed ferroalloy.
The Germans in Finland look at these stocks
as highly desirables and are in fact organizing an
attack on Murmansk.
The War Office therefore decides, in May 1918, to send to Murmansk General Sir
Frederick C. Poole, as General Officer Commanding the North Russia Expedition Force with
a body of 500 troops, with a primary task to organize the local defence of Murmansk against
German attacks.
Poole will be able to gather around Murmansk disaffected Polish and Czechoslovakian
troops formerly serving with the Russian Imperial Army, intent on continuing to serve with the Allies
against the Germans.
The Murmansk Soviet, disturbed by the German threat, also broke with the Bolsheviks so as
to preserve Murmanks for the Allies. — White Russia and Red Russia are gradually separating.
-------------------------
!Lloyd George, Memoirs, VI: 3168. !Wikipedia, «Murmanczycy»; «Frederick Poole», photo, «inspecting Polish troops in
Murmansk».May 27, 1918
In the Quicksand of Champagne
Opération BLÜCHER
Out of the blue, on 27 May 1918, a German
operation prepared in great secrecy is launched
where it is little expected.
Ludendorff wants to draw to the south those
reserve divisions that Foch has sent behind Arras so
as to distance them from the north, where he wants
to hit next.
The Champagne front, behind the Chemin des
Dames – of sad memory to the French– is now
occupied by French and British divisions that are not
in top shape, and not particularly well prepared.
Général Duchêne, the Commander of the
Sixième Armée, is proving more hard-headed than
usual and has disposed his forces forward, making
them vulnerable to the super-heavy bombardment
that the star German artillerierist, Brüchmuller, has
prepared in absolute secrecy.
The progress of the German assault troops is
much more rapid than Ludendorff anticipated.
But Champagne is a quicksand of delight. The
defences are soft, the food is abundant and the wine inebriating to the famished German soldiers.
— Ludendorff will throw in his good money after his bad money, and lose all in the deal.
--------------------------
!Liddell Hart, History of the First World War, Chapter 8, Scene 3, «Breakthrough to the Marne», with map.Le 28 mai, 1918
Les «Sammies» Sortent de leur Trou
L’offensive BLÜCHER des
Première et Septième Armées
allemandes a traversé la rivière
Aisne dès le premier jour de
combat, le 27 mai, et s’est
enfoncée dans la Sixième
armée française de sorte à se
retrouver devant la Marne, la
fameuse dernière barrière
devant Paris, avant la fin du
premier jour.
Foch fait immédiatement
appel à Pershing, qui peut
intervenir avec trois divisions.
La Première Division des États-
Unis s’engage ainsi dans la
première offensive américaine
de la guerre, contre le village de Cantigny.
Le 28 mai 1918, le 28e Régiment d’infanterie, et notamment son 2e Bataillon, y mènent un
assaut de rue en rue avec des lance-flammes contre des positions allemandes creusées dans les
décombres de l’artillerie.
C’est la contre-attaque de la Dix-huitième Armée du Général Hutier contre Cantigny qui
s’avère la partie la plus difficile de cette bataille, où les Américains conservent le village au prix de
1000 hommes.
— Cette première contre-atttaque américaine, bien que locale, a un effet moral important.
Les Français en repli se sentent appuyés par les ‘Sammies» finalement sortis de leur trou, dont le
rôle n’est pas négligeable.
----------------------------
!Farwell, US Army in Great War, 120; !Liddell Hart, Reputations, 310; !Dupuy & Dupuy, Encyclopedia of Military History
(1977).May 29, 1918
When the Saints Go Marching In
Foch commits reserves
The reserves that Foch has fought
so long to be able to keep in the
background for the whole of the
France theatre of operations now
come in handy.
On 29 May 1918, Foch orders
the Dixième Armée to get on the
move to counter attack the German
offensive started two days ago.
The Germans have now
crossed the Aisne River and are
pushing toward Paris, and the
French Sixième armée is
overwhelmed.
Three German armies are
involved in the move along the
Chemin des Dames, the place of the
fateful Nivelle Offensive of one year
ago. But this time the Germans are
succeeding.
But three large and fresh
divisions of the American
Expeditionary Force are also
involved in the blocking operation.
For Winston Churchill, the moment is of utmost historical importance. The United States are in the
process of redeeming Europe.Le 29 mai, 1918
Vivent les Tirailleurs!
Merfy
Le 29 mai 1918, les Allemands s'emparent du
chemin des Dames et mettent le cap sur Reims, le
dernier rempart de la route vers Paris.
Pour freiner leur avance, une section du
61ème bataillon de Tirailleurs sénégalais, composée
de 35 hommes, se retranche alors à Merfy au nord
de la ville. Face à eux, 1000 soldats du 127ième
régiment d’infanterie.
Malgré le déséquilibre des forces, les 35
Sénégalais refusent de capituler. Au terme d’un
combat acharné de deux jours, ils finissent tous par
être tués aux abords du château de la ville.
Le château est lui aussi complètement détruit
par les combats. Ce sacrifice laisse suffisamment de
temps à l’État-major pour organiser la défense de
Reims et empêcher ainsi les Allemands d’arriver à Paris.
Aujourd’hui à Merfy, une stèle rend hommage à ces 35 tirailleurs sénégalais. Un cylindre de
basalte noir où apparaissent en creux des portraits de soldats africains tombés au combat. Cette
stèle est surmontée de l'ancre de marine, l'emblème des troupes coloniales.
— En 4 ans, au sein des unités d’Afrique noire, 40 000 soldats furent blessés et 28 000
perdirent la vie.
---------------------------
Sources : http://www.jeuneafrique.com/depeches/233300/politique/marne-stele-en-hommage-aux-tirailleurs-
senegalais-de-la-grande-guerre/
Pour en savoir plus : http://www.leparisien.fr/reims-51100/marne-une-stele-en-hommage-au-tirailleurs-senegalais-de-
la-grande-guerre-30-05-2015-4817553.phpMay 30, 1918
A Sideshow Draws Attention
On the Salonika Front
French General Guillomat is now
the Commander of the Allied
Mediterranean Expeditionary
Force. He is losing troops in
Salonica as the French
Government is recalling divisions to
be used in France, now that the
Germans are attacking without end
on many fronts.
But the Germans are
withdrawing troops from the
Balkans as well. The Bulgars have
now been left pretty well alone to
defend themselves and occupy
Serbia, and they have been
considerably weakened by the
forced exportation of food and
other resources to Germany and
Austria-Hungary. Morale there,
therefore, is not high.
On 30 May 1918, the Hellenic Army attacks the Bulgarians in the vicinity of Skra di Legen,
west of the Vardar River, where their success demonstrates that since Greece has resolved its
political problems, her army is indeed efficient and constitutes a threat for the Bulgars.
With the arrival of the Americans in the battle in France, the Allies are thinking that
withdrawing troops from Salonika may very well not be a good idea.
— With the Greeks there now ready to fight for the Allies, perhaps this «sideshow» might be
helpful.
----------------------------
!Lloyd George, Memoirs, VI: 3208-9.May 31st, 1918
Czechoslovakian Grit
The Czech Legion Fights the
Bolsheviks
The Czechoslovak Legion was a body of
troops organized to fight alongside the
Imperial Russian armies against the
Central Powers. By 1918, they were
numbered 40,000, organised in two
divisions, and had established a solid
reputation as a fighting force.
After the Bolshevik Revolution, the
Chairman of the Czechoslovak National
Council, Thomas Masaryk, negotiated
with the Bolsheviks for their transfer from
Ukraine to Vladivostok (the only open
port) via the Trans-Siberian Railway, to
join the Czechoslovak Legion of France
to fight Austrians-Hungarians.
By May, the Legion was strung out
along the Trans-Siberian, making slow progress as the railway was overburdened. A clash with
Magyar troops caused the People's Commissar for War, Leon Trotsky, to order the disarmament
and arrest of the Legion, which resisted and revolted.
— Fighting broke out along the Trans-Siberian and on 31 May 1918, the Czechoslovak
Legion helped seize Vladivostok, ousting the Bolsheviks.
--------------------------
Further information: !David Bullock, The Czech Legion 1914-1920; !Thomas Garrigue Masaryk, «Czechoslovakia»,
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Twelfth Ed., 1922, XXX: 785-92, see 787.You can also read
